RAWALPINDI, Jan 29: Computed Axial Tomography (CT scan) machine at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) has been out of order for the last one and a half years and the chances of its repair look bleak thanks to the apathy of Punjab government.

Resultantly, the whole load of the patients has shifted to the CT scan machine at DHQ hospital, private hospitals and clinics. It is deplorable enough to find that the attendants have to carry the patients on the stretchers to get their CT scanned done at the private hospitals and clinics.

The machine broke down in 2010 and the hospital administration failed to get it repaired because the provincial government had imposed ban on the government hospitals to spend the allocated money on repair and purchase as these decisions were taken in the Chief Minister Secretariat.

It may be mentioned here that the health services in Rawalpindi have been in a shambles due to indifferent attitude of the provincial government. The MRI and angiogram machines at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) have been out of order for the last three years. CT scan machine at BBH is also not able to provide services. The situation gets even worse when one finds that HFH with more than 700 beds has never had CT scan machine at all.

The 10 ventilators at HFH, 4 at DHQ hospital and 5 at BBH has been dysfunctional for last three months but the administrations of these hospitals failed to get them repaired.

In the absence of these basic health machines, the patients have been suffering a lot as they have to spend extra money on tests from private hospitals and clinics.

The officials of these government-run hospitals told Dawn that the private laboratories, hospitals and clinics were charging Rs9,000 for plain CT scan and Rs10,000 for contrast CT scan while at the government hospitals the patients were charged only Rs1,600 for plain CT scan and Rs2,800 for contrast CT scan in case the machines were fully functional.

For angiography of heart patients, HFH was charging Rs10,000 and Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) and private hospitals were charging from Rs20,000 to Rs28,000.

“I have to hire a private ambulance to bring my father for CT scan at Rehmanabad as recommended by the doctors at BBH,” said Muhammad Sarfraz.

He said that his father had suffered heart attack and the doctors needed CT scan report to find out the real cause of the disease. He said he paid Rs300 to private ambulance to bring his father from BBH to Rehmanabad for the test.

Raffique Raja, a patient at DHQ hospital said he had to wait for three days to get his CT scan done as he was suffering from nerve disorders and the doctors prescribed him to have CT scan. He said he had limited resources and could not afford high fees of a private laboratory so he came to DHQ hospital.

Dr Umer Saeed at BBH said the CT scan machine needed to be repaired on urgent basis as mostly patients at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) needed immediate tests and some of them were not in a condition to be shifted to DHQ hospital or private laboratories.

He said it was not the fault of the hospital administration that the machine was not repaired or replaced despite the passage of one and a half years. “Punjab government is responsible for this negligence as it allocated funds for health services in the province and at the same time imposed ban on using it for repair and replacement of the machines,” he said.

Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab Chairman Dr Muhammad Haroon said that the provincial government failed to provide better facilities to the patients at government-run hospitals. He said it was duty of the government to provide equipments at the hospitals because in their absence the doctors had to send the patients to private clinics for medical tests.

When contacted, BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Asif Qadir Mir said that the hospital administration approached the Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) Principal Dr Musaddiq Khan for the repair of the machine and he sent a request to Chief Minister Secretariat in this regard.

He said Chief Minister Secretariat allowed the hospital administration to repair it or get new CT scan machine within two weeks. He said the hospital was preparing the PC-I for the purchase of new machine and it would be sent to the Punjab government for approval next month.

To a question, he said the total 15 ventilators were in working condition in BBH’s ICU and five others were being repaired to deal with emergency cases. He said the administration was also improving the condition of other machinery in the hospital to facilitate the patients.

Dr Sher Ali Khan, Medical Superintendent DHQ hospital, said the faulty CT scan machine at BBH created problem for DHQ hospital patients. He said that the working time of the CT scan machine had to increase due to the greater number of patients.

He said the administrations of three allied hospitals could not purchase new machinery from the funds allocated by the provincial government. He said DHQ hospital demanded seven ventilators, anesthesia machine and other equipment from Lahore for smooth functioning of the health services at the hospital.

Dr Muhammad Fayyaz, Medical Superintendent HFH and RMC Principal Dr Musaddiq Khan were not available for comments despite repeated attempts.